It can cripple a criminal prosecution, or at a minimum, alter trial strategy. That scenario has just occurred in the case of a developer who is accused of bribing Carolyn Davis, a former Dallas City Council member who pleaded guilty to accepting the payments.

Davis was killed Monday night when a suspected drunken driver slammed into her car in east Oak Cliff, police said. She was the primary witness against Ruel Hamilton, who was indicted with her in February. Hamilton, through his attorney, has denied the charges, and the trial is currently scheduled for January.

"That makes it more difficult for the government's case because whatever testimony she had is lost," said Aaron Wiley, a former federal prosecutor who now does criminal defense work.

Prosecutors said Davis took $40,000 from Hamilton between November 2013 and June 2015 to get an affordable housing project through the council. Her death has suddenly made former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway more valuable to prosecutors.

Caraway is considered an unindicted co-conspirator in the case, referred to in the indictment as "Council Person A." Hamilton's indictment alleges the developer bribed Caraway in August 2018.

Caraway had accepted bribes from the owner of a camera company who won a contract with Dallas County Schools to outfit school buses. As part of the deal, the City Council authorized the entity to issue tickets to drivers who didn't stop for the buses.

In April, U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn sentenced Caraway to 56 months in prison in that case.

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Legal experts say Caraway will almost certainly be the key witness against Hamilton when he goes to trial. And Caraway has a significant incentive to testify against the developer in court. If he does, he will be eligible for a sentencing reduction, known as a Rule 35 motion. Under that rule, Caraway could potentially end up with a much shorter sentence.

In a May filing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Wirmani said Caraway is "expected to testify against Hamilton under the terms of his plea agreement" in the school bus case.

Lynn "acknowledged that Caraway could be eligible for a sentencing reduction based on his future testimony against Hamilton," Wirmani said.

Hamilton's lawyer did not return calls for comment and Caraway's attorney could not be reached. The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment on what Davis' death means for their case.

Wiley, the former federal prosecutor, said U.S. attorneys will now have to put "more emphasis" on Caraway and his testimony.

"Strategically, they will have to rely more heavily on him," he said. "He is more of a critical witness than he was before."

Wiley said the outcome of the trial will likely hinge on whatever evidence Caraway has. Caraway's attorney has not said whether or not the longtime politician wore a wire for the feds.

As a result of Davis' death, prosecutors will not be able to use whatever statements she gave to investigators as evidence in the trial, Wiley said, because the defense won't have an opportunity to cross-examine her.

"A defendant always has a right to cross-examine a witness," he said. "As a person charged, you have a right to test the credibility of what's being said."

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Davis' bank records would be admissible as evidence, he said, because records "speak for themselves." But the participant's testimony is needed to explain to jurors what happened, Wiley said.

Hamilton's indictment alleges that on Feb. 2, 2015, during a meeting of the city's Housing Committee, Davis, the committee's chair, voted to support a Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs tax-exempt bond as well as tax credits for Hamilton's Royal Crest housing project across Interstate 45 from the Joppa community.

Hamilton's indictment says Davis also moved to authorize the Dallas Housing Finance Corp. to make a development loan to the Royal Crest project, which involved the rehabilitation of 168 affordable units, for upward of $2.5 million.

According to the indictment, Hamilton told Davis that he would be "disappointed" if his project didn't make the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs' list and that he wanted her to lobby the state in support of Royal Crest. The state later rejected the project's application for tax credits.

Davis was set to face sentencing for her role in the case in September.

In some cases when a key witness dies, prosecutors have to update the indictment and "change the tenor" of it due to the change in evidence, Wiley said. It's rare but does happen, he said. Prosecutors might also reevaluate other potential witnesses in the case, he said.

"You've got to adjust on the fly," he said. "I promise you right now they're scrambling. There's prosecutors who woke up today and said, 'Man, we may not have the same case.'"

Kevin Krause. Kevin has worked for The Dallas Morning News since 2003, and he has covered federal criminal courts for the past six years. Kevin has been a journalist for 26 years Kevin is a multiple recipient of the Stephen Philbin Award for excellence in legal reporting. Kevin earned a BA from Boston University.